Last month, the Spy spent some time with Talbot County developer Bob Greenlee to talk about his firm’s recent proposal to convert many Perdue Farms silos in Easton into residential units. Working with Easton and London-based architect Mitch Hager, this concept has been hailed for its brilliant design, which is one reason that Bob’s interview has become one of the Spy’s most viewed articles this year.

But Bob’s work is not limited to the silo project. Greenlee’s fingerprints can be found on some of Talbot County’s most significant commercial and retail development projects, including, but certainly not limited to, a new vision for Talbottown and a unique residential approach to Oxford’s historic Robert Morris Inn.

In part two of our interview, the Spy talks to Bob about those projects and his thoughts about the future of the Tidewater Inn. And he also assesses the impact of Easton downtown developer Paul Prager and the positive economic impact of his Bluepoint Hospitality Group investments on Talbot County real estate.

This video is approximately seven minutes in length. 

There is always a feel-good component when we talk about a hometown kid who made good, particularly when they’re from your town. The same goes for a simple idea that well… works.

We first heard about City Bonfires from Joe Opalski, Easton resident and dad to Michael Opalski. He wanted us to know that his son and a neighbor started the company, an idea that Joe said was ‘genius.’ We followed up.

Born and bred in Easton, the younger Opalski graduated from Easton High, went to college, got married, started a job, had kids, and moved to Rockville, MD, not too far from his roots. In Rockville, he discovered that his across-the-street neighbor, Chris McCasland, and he had a connection to the restaurant industry. Opalski worked with a manufacturing company that sold equipment to restaurants. McCasland owned Quincy’s South Bar & Grille in Rockville and Quincy’s Potomac Bar & Grill in Potomac. McCasland also had a business selling tickets to concerts, sports, and theater events throughout the country.

A proud dad would not have contacted us, and this story might not have turned out to be a story at all was it not for the pandemic. Because suddenly, these two neighbors found themselves without their day-to-day jobs, quarantined in their homes. Like with many other communities, small neighbor pods formed. Their kids began to play together, and the two men, who had never really had more than a two- or three-minute conversation, became friends. With life on pause, as they hung around the house, McCasland shared some ideas he’d been thinking about that would be ‘cool to do’ during the pandemic. Opalski was interested.

What they came up with was simple: Their families had enjoyed gathering around a bonfire; why not, they thought, a personal and portable fire pit? A product that would give people in all living situations–whether in a city or rural setting–the chance to sit around an outside fire without needing lots of space and firewood and with no extra clean-up.

With a solid idea, the two entrepreneurs created various prototypes, finally settling on a 4×2 inch round metal tin can using non-toxic soy wax that becomes the flame and creates a reusable (with 3-4 hours of burn time) mini bonfire.

Their next decision was easy. Knowing that pursuing the big box stores or the old brick and mortars to sell their products would be a slow process (particularly during the pandemic), they decided to use e-commerce instead, creating ad content for social media platforms.

For that, they turned to Opalski’s hometown—Easton. It was the most obvious choice, he said, “there’s such beauty there–the landscape is just incredible. And we could get pictures of the can with the water behind it. We envisioned people using it, took pictures of that, and didn’t need to rely on stock photos.”

And so it began. Now, for many innovators, the possibility of selling some inventory would be a great side or temporary thing—until they could return to their ‘real jobs.’ What McCasland and Opalski did not anticipate was the response. And here is where this becomes a story–because this simple yet solid idea caught on. Again, partially because of COVID.

“It was the experience,” said Opalski. “If you’re a grandparent and couldn’t be with your grandkids, you could send them this and FaceTime with them and be part of the good time they were having. Making this process a little bit more convenient, hit a vein.”

“It also helped that people were stuck at home and were looking for different ideas of what to do outside with their family,” said McCasland. “It was an easy, inexpensive, quick decision kind of thing.”

Also unanticipated was that their buyers started coming up with ideas of their own, and the two responded. The can bonfire expanded from not just a ‘sit around and enjoy a fire’ to a kit that also came with all the components necessary to create s’mores.

The senior Opalski—Joe—was enlisted to help: “I’d go to all the local grocery/big box stores and buy their entire inventory of marshmallows and graham crackers. I’d get strange looks and stares as I came through the check-out lines.”

As the demand grew, so did Joe’s role. “It was fun and exciting watching and being part of his growth. At first, along with Chris’ family members, I was gluing wicks. Finally, I graduated to hauling wholesale supplies. I’d travel to the can manufacturer and bring 10-15,000 cans or 14,000 candy bars to their new warehouse.”

That’s right–they had to move to a warehouse because neither their garages nor their families could support or keep up with the expansion. It helped that the press was supportive. It’s only been a year, yet the product has been featured in People Magazine, Self, Reader’s Digest, E-Online, Today Show, CNBC, to name only a handful.

With all the national publicity, they also learned other ways their product was being used. “Neither Michael or I are big campers,” said McCasland, “but we learned a lot of people were bringing it when they went camping or were putting it in their survival bag or bug out bag.” There was also the very unexpected–you might even say– life-saving use. “Remember,” said McCasland, that crazy snow and sleet storm in Houston last winter that caused the power outages? We received videos from people showing us how they were boiling water to make ramen noodles.”

They soon received another surprise, but this one was international: “We began to sell quite a bit in Canada,” said McCasland. “We do a lot of corporate orders there, mostly retail corporate gifts. But we’re soon to be expanding into Europe and Australia, and Mexico.

Of course, what won’t be surprising is that both Opalski and McCasland now run City Bonfires full time (although McCasland still owns the restaurants, which, he said, are run by ‘really good general managers’).

As for the future, expect more accessories and more ways to enjoy the experience of their product. But don’t discount the possibility of new ideas coming to fruition because if there is one thing they learned, you sometimes need to go back to the basics. “It was kind of like a Business 101 course. Right? Start in your garage, put a little bit of money into it, don’t take too much risk, and everything will just start happening. And in our case, it did.”

Opalski credits this elementary success partially to his roots. “I think there’s some small-town sensibility that you grow up when you grow up in an area like Talbot County. And it doesn’t leave you as you age. Your adolescence are pretty impressionable years.”

Whatever the reason, this small-town sensibility is carried over into City Bonfire’s branding. From their advertising to their website and packaging, you get the same consistent message: “Made with ❤️ in Maryland.” What’s not to love about that?

For more information please go here.

Val Cavalheri is a recent transplant to the Eastern Shore, having lived in Northern Virginia for the past 20 years. She’s been a writer, editor and professional photographer for various publications, including the Washington Post.

 

Lani Seikaly, President, Kent Attainable Housing, has announced the selection of Darius Johnson as its first Executive Director. “The Board of Directors felt Johnson’s prior leadership experiences, innovative problem solving skills, demonstrated ability to form partnerships, and passion for making homeownership an equitable opportunity and a strategy to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty all made him the perfect executive director for Kent Attainable Housing.” 

A Kent County High School graduate, Johnson received the Washington College Vincent Hynson Scholarship in 2011 and graduated from there in 2015 with a degree in Business Management. For the past three years he has worked for the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy as Communications Manager and previously as their Community Revitalization Project Manager. Prior to that, he was with the Maryland Center for Construction Education & Innovation. He has had extensive public speaking, fund-raising, and event planning experience.  He currently serves on the Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area Board of Directors and the Washington College Alumni Board.

“This is an exciting opportunity and I am energized to serve the community that I call home. I have admired the mission of KAH since its beginnings, and I am committed to helping this organization grow while uplifting Kent County’s hardworking families,” said Johnson.

 Sam Shoge, Executive Director of Kent County Chamber of Commerce, applauded Johnson’s appointment. “Darius has consistently been an advocate for those that are underrepresented so it is clear his heart and head are in the right place to lead Kent Attainable Housing into the future. His passion for the community and his steadfast commitment to the mission of Kent Attainable Housing is the type of transformational leadership Kent County needs.”

As a part of his work with the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, he has had experience in building partnerships with other non-profit and stakeholder groups. “Darius is passionate about this community and works tirelessly to support it. As a collaborator, he is generous with his time and is a gifted spokesperson for work he believes in,” said Darran Tilghman, Director of Community Engagement for ShoreRivers.  Johnson is a 2021 National Fellow of the Environmental Leadership Program.

Kent Attainable Housing seeks to create home ownership opportunities for local, low-income families in need of safe, decent and affordable housing by building or renovating homes. KAH builds the capacity of applicants to successfully own a home through required workshops in financial literacy, homeownership, and budget management.  Community volunteers and partners help make the homes affordable and help mentor applicants through the process. The first home, on College Avenue in Chestertown, has been completed, and the future homeowners have been selected for the second home, soon to be underway in the Butlertown community of Worton.

For information about Kent Attainable Housing, go to https://kentattainablehousing.org or email kentattainablehousing@gmail.com. 

 

F3 Tech, a leading commercialization program for early-stage companies, is looking for innovations in the agriculture, aquaculture and energy storage sectors to participate in its 4^th Accelerator Program. Startups and early-stage companies within alternative feed, energy storage, crop health, advanced chemical discovery and agricultural biotech solutions are the focus for this year’s Accelerator and encouraged to apply.

“These are growing and dynamic sectors and we are excited to work with these companies to bring their innovations to market on behalf of our partners in industry,” said Chris Hlubb, Program Director of F3 Tech Accelerator Program, now in its fourth year. “We have developed our most advanced application process yet using Qualtrics software to engineer the process for our key topics of interest. We hope it drives further applicants and awareness of the program.”

The F3 Tech Accelerator Program requires no equity from participants, a unique value proposition for many early-stage companies. Up to $450,000 in funding and professional services will be available to companies in this year’s program. They will receive:

–       Funding to expedite commercialization

–       Executive support and coaching to prepare each company for potential investment

–       Executive guidance for potential acquisition and/or commercial launch

–       Connections to related industry clients, investors and customers

The F3 Tech Accelerator Program has worked hard to attract companies led by under-represented groups. Since its inception, one-third of the participating companies have had female leaders and one-third have had immigrant or first-generation leaders. In 2020, 60% were led by members of minority groups and 80% had executive team members from minority groups. Participants in last year’s program can be found here.

The deadline to apply for the F3 Tech Accelerator Program is June 30, 2021. Finalists will be announced in August and the program will start on September 7, 2021.

To apply for the F3 Tech Accelerator Program, please visit: https://f3tech.org/program/accelerator/